"Samurai Sentai Shinkenger" toys revealed

Once again, Thai-Toku.com proves to be an invaluable asset to me...

It is official- the Samurai Sentai Shinkenger are on their way! This year's theme will be around samurai (1994's "Ninja Sentai KakuRanger" and 2002's "Ninpuu Sentai Hurricanger" focused instead on ninjutsu), and there will be a focus around the Japanese kanji alphabet characters and natural elements.

Yes- we are getting cell phone henshin devices... again. (Let's see now how many series we've had those with before? "MegaRanger", "GaoRanger", "DekaRanger" [sorta], "MagiRanger", "Boukenger", and the current "Go-Onger".) Enough already! Sheesh... what ever happened to the more widely-used wrist, buckle, or other item changers??? (Say- howsabout another two-part changer like we had in "Jetman", "DaiRanger", "CarRanger", and "OhRanger"? Those were cool!) These new changers, however, don't collaps down like a typical cell phone (vertically)- instead they fold around horizontally, and then act like some kind of small knife!

. . .

The connecting gimmick that will be seen throughout the series will be removable discs. These may be the Shinkenger's power source, and they seem to be treated like CDs, which can spin. These discs will be included in some of the mecha designs, and more prominently in the Shinkenger's weapons. I don't think that each disc has its own light-&-sound like the Go-Onger's Engine Souls do/did, but rather the toy they are placed into will have the electronics instead. I suspect that if the latter is true, each disc will have a unique key which each toy will then recognize and respond to differently each time [a la the cards used in the Command Voicers in the Metal Hero series "B-Fighter Kabuto" (aka the Data Bonders from "Beetleborgs Metalix")]. Each belt buckle can also store a disc (how many at one time?).

For the standard weapon, each Shinkenger will get- wait for it- a samurai katana [longsword], which can also accept those discs. (This kinda reminds me of the weapons used in "Kamen Rider Blade", where each Rider weapon could identify the specially-designed flat UnDead cards slid across them... which I thought was cool, but by now has been done many times in other series.) And each ranger will be issued a unique individual weapon which can also accept the discs (I've see up there a blue crossbow and green spear).

The Shinkenger's finishing weapon will be a long red-&-silver bazooka which can shoot the discs!
(Is it just me, or does that thing also change into a giant sword...?)

The mecha line is called OriGami (or is it just "Origami"?)- in reference to the fact that they are all triple-changing robots: animal form, a kanji/badge form, and robot-component form. The five animals will be:

Lion OriGami (Shinken Red)

Dragon OriGami (Shinken Blue)

Bear OriGami (Shinekn Green)

Monkey OriGami (Shinken Yellow)

Kami OriGami [a turtle] (Shinken Pink)

The OriGami mecha can all change into a compacted form which then prominently displays a specific kanji symbol which is relevant to that mecha and ranger. So far as I can tell, there will also be an elemental theme to the mecha as well, delving into mythology once more- fire, water, Earth, metal, and sky- which is what those kanji symbols may be on the mecha.

The first lead robo is called the [???] Gattai Shinken-Oh. ("-Oh" means "king", BTW, so it could be read as "King of the Way of the Samurai" or perhaps "Samurai-method King".) The DX version shown above will stand 28cm (11")-tall. Like the weapons, the DX Shinken-Oh can carry a single disc on the left shoulder (one is provided), and seems to have an accessory needed to turn any disc in the series into a hand-held shield!
(Is it just me, or do the golden guards on either side of the Shinken-Oh's face close up like a face-shield...?)

. . .

We will be getting DX-sized accessory mecha again this year, starting out with at least three:

Kabuto [Hercules beetle] OriGami

Karini [Swordfish] OriGami

Tora [Tiger] OriGami

They will- thankfully!- not be limb-swapping [though that is still a possibility given how the Monkey and Kami OriGami attach to the Shinken-Oh].

They will, instead act as giant helmets/backpacks- presumably bestowing their particular animal skill to the mecha as opposed to acting as a weapon/armor-upgrade like was used with the Geki Beasts in "GekiRanger". Unlike the first five OriGami mecha, however, each of these also can accept a disc (a unique one is, again, provided with each). While the dics can also spin inside each accessory OriGami, it looks like the same movement causes a part of the toy itself to move as an action feature!
It's also possible (but unlikely, I think) that because of this, they too will have light-&-sound.

(In other words, when you get the DX toys and combine them, be prepared for some seriously back/top-heavy action...)

"Samurai Sentai Shinkenger" will debut on February 15th, 2009.
Be sure to also look for the traditional hand-off at the end of "Engine Sentai Go-Onger" on Feb. 8th!

Comments

Yes. The kanji on the mecha all correspond to different elements. If you look closely you'll see that the helmet designs are more stylised versions of the same kanji. Shinkenred is definitely fire and Shinkengreen is wood (so far the same as Magiranger)but I don't know the kanji used for the other three.

Surely the turtle is not the symbol for air, and the dragon for water...!?

This would make far more sense:

lion = fire

dragon = sky

bear = earth

monkey = wood

turtle = water

If the dragon weren't in there, yeah, I'd say the turtle could be used for both water and sky. But since there is a dragon in there, then, well... ^_^

I'm still unsure of one of them might be metal instead of earth.

Oh, BTW, anyone else notice that the five elements wer the same ones used in "Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog", as opposed to the typical Greek fire, water, earth & air [and for you Bionicle fans out there, add stone & ice]? Would the elements be more of Asian mythology, or European?
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CollectionDX Staff

I've done a little more research on the kanji.
As I said red is fire (it sort of looks like a flame) and green is wood (a tree, complete with roots and branches) but I can add to that that blue is definitely water (sort of like a splash of water) and yellow is earth (a single flower growing out of the ground). Pink I'm not so sure about because the kanji don't really match, but do think you are right about metal (the kanji sort of looks like a mine but if this is what they're going for they've removed some of the more complex elements).

The other thing that's interesting about the kanji they've chosen is that aside from representing elements they also stand for a day of the week.
火 Fire = Tuesday
水 Water = Wednesday
木 Wood = Thursday
金 Metal = Friday
土 Earth = Saturday

Aside from the fact that I'm not 100% convinced by pink I'm wondering if this is something intentional. In which case it might also be possible that we're getting two add on rangers again, representing the sun and the moon (peculiarly these two days of the Japanese week actually correspond with their English meaning).

I knew that I saw metal written out somewhere, but I wasn't sure which one it was.

So, we're getting:

Lion OriGami = 火 Fire = Tuesday

Dragon OriGami = 水 Water = Wednesday

Bear OriGami = 木 Wood = Thursday

Monkey OriGami = 土 Earth = Saturday

Kami OriGami = 金 Metal = Friday

These elements- I feel like I've seen them before together like this. Does anyone else know if they are, other than as the days of the week?

. . .

Something else I noticed, and I saw it most prominently on the arms & legs of Shinken-Oh...

The panels on the lower legs just on the outside of them, are enough to make up the kanji symbols by themselves. But, then they also have those same shaped panels on the inner side fo the legs. So what I'm thinking is, the OriGami will actually be flat like hockey pucks in 'badge mode', and the kanji will be represented on both sides of them!
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CollectionDX Staff

Samurai Gattai Shinken-Oh. I've looked at the kanji used in the two images showing the mecha and the announcement poster, and the first character in each have too many similarities to each other to be a coincidence.

Do you mean 侍? It does just mean Samurai, also "to serve" and waiter (wouldn't it have been funny if that were the theme they'd gone for). The next two kanji in the Shinkenger logo represent Sentai, and the ones on the mecha logo represent gattai.

Well, samurai were loyal to one master unless something really significant came up, so that the kanji would be related makes sense. Indeed, if a samurai left his master, often they were condemned whatever the reason was, and would become outcasts until they regained respect through either finding a new master (a shamed samurai was easily turned away too), or became prominent on their own (a la mercenaries).
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CollectionDX Staff

Upon closer examination of the cellphone morpher pic, I think it's actually a calligraphy brush and not a small knife.

Look at the "blade", its white with a black end, as if it was dipped in an inkwell. And since the first form of the zords are kanji characters, I think that's how they call out them out, WRITE them out to be exact.

I thought pretty much the same thing today and that the ink tip for the shodou phone might be the key both to the mecha and possibly even a part of the henshin sequence. Looks to me from the smaller pictures that there may be some function to it on the toy too rather than it just being a plastic tip there for show. I wonder if somebody involved in the Shinkenger design has been playing Okami?

If I read the ads correctly, those DX Mechas should not feature any lights and sound as it says "No" with respect to any batteries requirement.

I personally am not a big fan of electronic toys, so going oldschool this year may put me back into buying. I like G10-12 but the lights and sounds just bother me so much.

In addition, those three DX armour mechas can form a big bird if anyone has not reported it yet. The beetle will split in half for the wings, the fish will become the head / tail and the tiger will become the body. Any leftovers form the tail.

I think it will be like Gekiranger all over again, but without the lights and sounds. I just hope they will have a big combo together that does not look like G12. (Something like Ultimate Daibouken but bigger will be perfect.)

I'm kinda with AlBundy on this one. I'm not a fan of DX plasticy robots having lights and sounds. For some reason, I feel lights and sounds belong on higher-end collectibles. Anyway, something like Ultimate Daibouken but bigger would be amazing.

Does anyone know when the show will begin to air? I followed the fansubs of Boukenger because I dug the promo pics of the robot so much beforehand. I don't know if this is the case for others, but watching the show makes the toy experience that much cooler!

I agree Sanjeev. As far as Sentai is concerned I rarely have much interest in the toys until I've seen the mecha in action on the show. As the blog says the show premieres in Japan on 15th Feb, I'd imagine we can expect TV Nihon to sub the show soon after but their Go-Onger subs have been a bit random lately so I'm not sure when.

Like any multimedia franchise, while simply owning a toy or model or figure can be gratifying in its own way, you can get the full richness of the experience by watching the series or movie to match it up. Now, that does not necessarily mean that it will make the item any better (it can, though), just that you are more comforted in its origins and features.

That I've seen, aside from not always being 100% accurate with paint apps, or showing a slightly different transformation (or, of course, lacking significant poseability), Super Sentai Series mecha are pretty damned close to what you see on the the screen.
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CollectionDX Staff

We haven't had significant die-cast since "Hurricanger" in 2002. The DX Senpuujin and Gouraijin both had Chogokin ID# (GD-42 & -43, respectively), and were the last Super Sentai mecha to carry those. Beyond that, I don't follow Chogokin that closely but it would be nice to see it once in a while in Super Sentai.
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CollectionDX Staff

EVA is correct, Hurricanger is the last sentai series to feature a very sexy amount of diecast. Like Sanjeev has said, I think Bandai will reserve diecast to Chogokins / SOCs now. I am somewhat fine with this arrangement as long as the plastic DX mechas are interesting in design and combine nicely (ie. Ultimate Daibouken or Magiking).

I do have to publicly thank Bandai for putting in electronics into the recently DX mechas. It saves me a lot of money. No offense EVA, but I hate Gekiranger.

i am digging the fact that 5 make up the whole thing, instead of one makes up the whole top/bottom and one makes a nice belt. Five people, FIVE! and one is a freaking monkey! and one is a turtle! to me thats like having "leonardo"(TMNT) and "optimus primal"(Beastwars) become part of "voltron" and for some reason "american dragon: drake long". A bear thats f'ing "smokey the bear" right there. Also they turn into convenient coasters! God wants me to have this. sorry for the long post